Governor Amaechi Names The Men Who Betrayed Him

“There are men with character and there are men without character. I don’t believe that money can solve all problems and I don’t worship money. My greatest fear is that where am I going after here on earth?"

Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has opened up on the men who actually betrayed him and started feeding President Goodluck Jonathan lies about him, after he helped them to become somebody.

Speaking for "the first and last time" on the issues, Amaechi has described Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, as “too small and insignificant to discuss.”

Amaechi said this while speaking on Saturday during a church service to mark the 60th birthday of the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief O.C.J. Okocha, at the Emmanuel Anglican Church in Port Harcourt.

The governor, reacting to questions directed at him by the officiating priest, Bishop of Anglican Communion, Niger Delta Diocese, Archbishop Ignatius Kattey, expressed regret that most of those that had betrayed him were from his Ikwerre ethnic group.

Amaechi recalled how he nominated some of his kinsmen, including Wike and the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps, Austin Okpara, into political positions, but they turned around to betray him.

The governor said, “This will be the first time I will be talking about my former Chief of Staff in public. My former Chief of Staff is too small for me to talk about. I don’t want to discuss him and I have never done that before. Today will be my first and last day.

"Let me also tell you that I have been betrayed several times in politics and majority of those who betrayed me are from my Ikwerre ethnic group.

“Before I became a Speaker, can we look back at Ikwerre history? We were crying; we wanted governor, we wanted this and that and the last ministerial appointment was Chief Emmanuel Aguma, a long time ago, and that was the last Ikwerre ministerial appointment.”

“Again, you can ask Mr. President, I submitted his name (Nyesom Wike) as minister. Where is he now? I, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, submitted his name as minister to President Jonathan. But where is he now? You must have character, you must be known for something,” Amaechi insisted.

Wike, who is Amaechi’s former Chief of Staff, has been involved in a long drawn political battle with him over who will be the next governor of the state. That's the genesis of his troubles.